Police: Man Hit Officer Tiff At Festival Leads To Arrest

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Marva and Aaron Caines went to the Seafood Festival on Sunday, hoping to taste some ocean delicacies and enjoy an outing with their two children.

But the Caineses never made it inside the festival.

After getting involved in an altercation with police, Aaron Caines, 75, was arrested, police said.

The reason: He tried to walk into the festival with a small cooler. Signs posted at the entrance prohibit festivalgoers from entering with coolers, alcohol or other beverages.

Aaron Caines, who is legally blind, apparently did not see the signs. He also ignored a festival volunteer and a police officer when they told him he could not go inside with the cooler, police said.

``He told me he was going in anyway, so I called the police officer,`` volunteer Bob Malloy said. ``The officer told him a few times that he couldn`t go in there with the cooler. The next thing I know, the old man slugged the officer in the chest.``

Sgt. George Bentley said he had no choice but to arrest Aaron Caines after he ignored the warnings and struck him.

``He was using profanities and being very vulgar,`` Bentley said. ``I`ve never heard language like that from a person that age. The last thing we want to do at these events is arrest somebody, especially someone his age.``

Marva Caines was not with her husband when, police said, he disobeyed the officer. As he was handcuffed and taken away, she pleaded with Bentley to let her husband go.

``He`s a diabetic,`` she said. ``He needs to have food with him at all times in case his sugar goes low. That`s why we carry this cooler.``

Malloy and Bentley said Aaron Caines never told them he needed the cooler for health reasons. Malloy said he had allowed 10 other people to carry in coolers with baby food, medicines or other necessities on Sunday.

``He was belligerent from the first instant,`` Malloy said. ``He never gave us a chance to even look in the cooler.``

Dan Hobby, executive director of the Historical Society, said there were no other problems at the two-day festival. He said the festival, which benefits the Historical Society, set a record. Attendance figures were not available, however.

Aaron Caines, meanwhile, was charged with trespassing and spent an hour in the Broward County Jail. He was released after posting $25 bail.

``They fingerprinted me, took all my things and locked me up,`` Caines said from his home in North Miami Beach on Sunday evening. ``We heard about the festival on TV, and it took us three hours to get there because we don`t know our way around. And then I ended up getting arrested. What a day.``